Coming from France: Modern-day medical ties to Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland’s relationship with Rouen, France, started during World War I because doctors here wanted to mimic innovations they observed at an army hospital there. Now Cleveland’s sister city wants to flip the script.

French officials who were in town for the last week want over the next two years to lock down as many commercial ties as they can for a new Rouen University Innovation Health Care initiative. At the moment, that effort is a collaboration between the Rouen University Hospital – Charles Nicolle and the university to commercialize more of their research and includes some temporary buildings that house fewer than a half-dozen startups. But a permanent facility, which would include an office park to house businesses past the incubation phase, likely will be completed early next decade.

There was a lot of talk and heavy hinting by the French delegation that ties with its health-care initiative would provide a better foothold for Cleveland’s health care community in Europe. Some Cleveland-Europe ties already exist. The Cleveland Clinic recently signed a memorandum of understanding with an Irish university and manages a heart center in Austria.

And there are some technical synergies between Cleveland and Rouen. The French university’s health-care research includes a focus on polymers, cardiovascular disease, cancer and immunological diseases — all of which also are focuses in Cleveland and Akron. But there are no formal partnering proposals under consideration, according to Cleveland officials.

Something more concrete would be the arrival Fabien Lieval, the technology transfer manager from the Rouen hospital, who will spend September through November working in Case Western Reserve University’s tech transfer office. He’s here as part of CWRU’s International Resident Affiliate Program.

“Universities in the United States have been involved in tech transfer activities for more than three decades,” said Lieval, who visited last week with the French delegation. “Universities in Europe have been involved for 10 years. There’s a great gap between U.S. practices and European practices. It’s important for Europe to learn the U.S. practices.”

Lieval also hopes his work here will “create a bridge between Rouen and Cleveland in economic activities that will be active after I leave.”

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user Orfgen]